We’re almost half-way through ottoneu arbitration and, at least across my leagues, some patterns are forming. A Cleveland pitcher and two Chicago first basemen are proving to be the most targeted players.
That probably is not much of a surprise, but does it make sense? And who else is near the top of that list?
Arbitration allocations and voting off players in ottoneu leagues start this Wednesday. Brad Johnson and I have both shared guides to the process in the past (both for arbitration allocations and vote offs), but this year I want to focus on one point.
Prospects. Every year I touch on this briefly and every year a couple prospects are among the most allocated-to. So this year, I want to explore allocations to prospects/rookies a bit deeper.
So “Yan” and “man” don’t actually rhyme, which makes the title less fun, but has nothing to do with its accuracy. Maybe it’s because I am an Indians fan and see him play almost daily, but I spent much of the last two years wondering why Yan Gomes wasn’t getting more love from the fantasy community. You have to look no further than these very pages, where Gomes was mentioned for fantasy purposes all of twice in 2014.
The first time it was because Brett Talley was covering the Cleveland infield and Gomes was listed there only as a sleeper (and likely only because you can’t just ignore a team’s starting catcher in talking about their infield). The second was when Nicholas Minnix noted, in September, that Gomes was a top five fantasy asset at his position. By the end of the season, he was top four.
I never enjoy this. Every March, we make our Ten Bold Predictions and when predictions are bold, the process of analyzing the results tends to be rather humbling.
But not this year. Well, not really, anyway. I knew I had some stinkers in there (wait’ll you see #10), but I also knew I made some strong bets. And I thought maybe – just maybe – I could make a run at .500. We’ll have to see.
With the trade deadline passed in ottoneu, the only way to improve your roster – for now or the future – through free agent auctions and waiver claims, which means cutting players, rather than trading them. In some cases, this is easy. That $37 Allen Craig you picked up at auction last spring, expecting a bounce back (one which I, myself, expected) is probably not hard to cut loose right now.
But what about the overpriced stars you plan to cut in the off-season but who are still productive? The problem here is that while a $60 Giancarlo Stanton might not be worth a keeping at $62 next year, if you cut him, another owner can start an auction and someone could end up paying him as little as $32 next year.
This article is not really about Rusney Castillo. It’s about you. Well, if you play ottoneu, it is about you.
See, ottoneu does not allow you to bid on Cuban players, college players, etc., until they are signed by an MLB organization. And Rusney Castillo just hit that milestone, leading to a flurry of auctions. And more than 400 teams placed bids on the newest Boston Red Sox outfielder.
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I own Max Scherzer in three leagues right now. Three different formats, three different sets of rules, and three different places in the standings. And I am working on trading him in not one, but two.
The problem is trying to find the right value. And valuing a guy like Scherzer is not easy.
The MLB Trade Deadline is coming up quickly, and fantasy deadlines will follow over the next few weeks. For dynasty owners, particularly those near the top of their standings, there is a big question of how you balance making a run in 2014 vs. staying in a good position for 2015.
I am in the midst of a marathon trade dialogue with fellow Rotographer Brad Johnson. Brad is sitting in fourth place, but has the 8th best offense and 4th best pitching staff and has determined that puts a top-three finish out of reach. And as he has shipped off one star after another (Miguel Cabrera, Craig Kimbrel, Adam Wainwright) he and I have repeatedly debated the merits of those stars and my young up-and-comers.
I have been a fairly regular advocate of targeting injured players in keeper and dynasty leagues. To a team competing, they are no better than a prospect, but to a team building for the future, they are far more likely to pan out.
A few weeks ago, Prince Fielder was cut in the original ottoneu league and re-signed for $24. He is a free agent in the FanGraphs ottoneu Experts League. And I am in the midst of trade talks around him in a non-ottoneu dynasty league. And I am really not sure what to make of the Ranger 1B.
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The month of June is coming to an end and a quick look at the June leaderboards shows some surprising names (and some not-so-surprising names). Monthly stats, as we know, are subject to all the issues that all other small sample sizes suffer from. But sometimes you can find a guy who made an adjustment and is starting to hit.
I took a look at the top 10 qualified hitters in wOBA in June to see if there were any surprises or anyone worth looking at closer.
